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The Nativity Story opens on a panoramic view of a clear night sky, with an orchestral version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” on the soundtrack—precisely what you would expect from a film about the birth of our Lord and Savior. But seconds later, the tone has changed. King Herod’s troops swarm into Bethlehem to begin slaughtering male infants, a plan hatched by the paranoid ruler to ensure the Jewish Messiah won’t live to overthrow him. Graphic bloodshed is kept off-camera, but the point is clear: This won’t be a Hallmark-style depiction of the Christmas story.

Flashing back one year, the film shows a teenaged Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes) sharing a small home in Nazareth with her parents, grandfather, uncle and two young cousins. It’s an impoverished life, and Roman tax collectors make matters worse by pulling girls into slavery when their families’ crops fall below expectations. To spare Mary this fate, her father blesses her betrothal to Joseph (Oscar Isaac), a young carpenter she hardly knows. Mary runs to a secluded olive grove to sort out her feelings, and it’s there that the angel Gabriel appears to tell her she will conceive and bear the son of God, while yet a virgin. As in Scripture, her acceptance of this news is both full and immediate. A visit to older cousin Elizabeth (Shohreh Aghdashloo), herself chosen to bear John the Baptist, confirms Mary’s faith. But harsh challenges remain. The movie fleshes out the Gospel accounts in plausible ways, as Mary is shunned by the village once her pregnancy is known, and Joseph shifts from feelings of betrayal to selfless love and sacrifice.

Traits are revealed in Mary and Joseph that, the script suggests, will be passed on to Jesus. For instance, on a stop during the census journey to Bethlehem, Mary washes Joseph’s feet, an act of loving respect for his own devotion. Later, Joseph is angered by the sight of merchants at the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet they both understandably wonder if they’ll be able, as parents, to teach God’s son anything.

Other scenes hint at future pain—the couple passes a row of cruficied men, a street prophet is beaten and dragged away by Roman soldiers. And while crossing a river, Mary falls in and is nearly bitten by a water snake, which may symbolize Satan trying to prevent the birth. But all moments of peril—and shots of Mary and Elizabeth in labor—are treated discreetly, making The Nativity Story suitable for children beyond preschool age.

Like The Passion of the Christ, the film was shot mostly in rural, southern Italy because the original sites are now too modernized. But the substitution works well, giving most of the story a gritty, “you are there” feeling. Director Catherine Hardwicke makes a few wrong choices. The Magi are treated as semi-comic characters, with a persnickety Gaspar fussing throughout their 600-mile trek to greet the newborn King; and the angel’s appearance before the shepherds recalls biblical epics of Hollywood’s golden age—maybe a bit too much for contemporary tastes. But performances by the international cast are uniformly sincere. Mr. Isaac, a Guatemalan-born actor in his starring debut, is especially moving as Joseph. Ms. Aghdashloo and Ciarán Hinds make strong impressions as the supportive Elizabeth and insidious King Herod. And if 16-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes seems more reserved here than in her Oscar-nominated Whale Rider turn, it may only be to express the mature-beyond-her years quality Mary likely possessed.

The Nativity Story is truly an antidote to the secularized holiday entertainments that flood the market this time of year, and it deserves to be seen and applauded.

Discussion Questions:
Do the movie’s scenes match your own vision of the story?What aspects might have been explored, which were not?When have you made your greatest “leap of faith” as a Christian? How did the experience change you?

Bill Fentum is an associate editor of the United Methodist Reporter, and a radio-TV-film graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. This review was published in the December 1 issue of the Reporter, and is posted on Preview with permission from UMR Communications, 1221 Profit Drive, Dallas, Texas 75247. 1-800-947-0207.

Distributor: New Line Cinema